Concurrent network based collaboration sessions

Abstract

Disclosed in some examples are computer systems, methods, and machine readable mediums which provide for concurrent instances of network based collaboration sessions. Media that is shared in a collaboration session may be termed blocking media or unblocking media. The active session presents both the blocking and non-blocking media. Only non-blocking media is presented in the background sessions. Thus, for example, the audio, video, or all the media may be presented in the active session, and only the non-blocking media such as a text chat may be presented in one or more background sessions. Users may switch which collaboration session is active and which collaboration sessions are background sessions.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A system for providing concurrent collaboration sessions, the system comprising:
 a processor; 
 a memory communicatively coupled to the processor and including instructions, which when performed by the processor, causes the system to perform operations comprising:
 connecting over a network to a collaboration server and joining a first collaboration session; 
 joining a second collaboration session; 
 determining that the first collaboration session is an active session and the second collaboration session is a background session; and 
 responsive to determining that the first collaboration session is active:
 presenting an item of blocking and an item of non-blocking media that corresponds to the first collaboration session in a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on a display device; and 
 presenting a second item of non-blocking media that corresponds to the second collaboration session on the display device, the second item of non-blocking media comprising a conversion of a second item of blocking media to non-blocking media. 
 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving the conversion of the second item of blocking media from the collaboration server. 
 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving the second item of blocking media from the collaboration server; and 
 converting the second item of blocking media to non-blocking media. 
 
     
     
       4. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the item of blocking media comprises audio and wherein the non-blocking media comprises one of: text, and images. 
     
     
       5. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving an input to change the first collaboration session to be the background session and the second collaboration session to be the active session; 
 responsive to the input, presenting the second item of non-blocking media and the second item of blocking media; and 
 presenting the non-blocking item of media corresponding to the first collaboration session and presenting a third non-blocking media corresponding to a conversion of the second item of blocking media into non-blocking media. 
 
     
     
       6. The system of  claim 1 , wherein the operations comprise:
 determining that a trigger in the second collaboration session occurred and responsive to the trigger, displaying a prompt on the display device notifying a user of the trigger. 
 
     
     
       7. The system of  claim 6 , wherein the trigger is a keyword spoken by a person in the second collaboration session. 
     
     
       8. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the keyword is detected by the collaboration server and wherein determining that a first trigger in the second collaboration session occurred comprises receiving a message from the collaboration server. 
     
     
       9. The system of  claim 7 , wherein the keyword is detected by the processor, wherein the second item of non-blocking media comprises a transcript of audio corresponding to the second collaboration session, and wherein determining that a first trigger in the second collaboration session occurred comprises finding the keyword in the transcript of audio. 
     
     
       10. A non-transitory machine readable medium comprising instructions which when performed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations comprising:
 using a computer processor:
 connecting over a network to a collaboration server and joining a first collaboration session; 
 joining a second collaboration session; 
 determining that the first collaboration session is an active session and the second collaboration session is a background session; and 
 responsive to determining that the first collaboration session is active:
 presenting an item of blocking and an item of non-blocking media that corresponds to the first collaboration session in a Graphical User Interface (GUI) on a display device; and 
 presenting a second item of non-blocking media that corresponds to the second collaboration session on the display device, the second item of non-blocking media comprising a conversion of a second item of blocking media to non-blocking media. 
 
 
 
     
     
       11. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving the conversion of the second item of blocking media from the collaboration server. 
 
     
     
       12. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving the second item of blocking media from the collaboration server; and 
 converting the second item of blocking media to non-blocking media. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the item of blocking media comprises audio and wherein the non-blocking media comprises one of: text, and images. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise:
 receiving an input to change the first collaboration session to be the background session and the second collaboration session to be the active session; 
 responsive to the input, presenting the second item of non-blocking media and the second item of blocking media; and 
 presenting the non-blocking item of media corresponding to the first collaboration session and presenting a third non-blocking media corresponding to a conversion of the second item of blocking media into non-blocking media. 
 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 10 , wherein the operations comprise:
 determining that a trigger in the second collaboration session occurred and responsive to the trigger, displaying a prompt on the display device notifying a user of the trigger. 
 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the trigger is a keyword spoken by a person in the second collaboration session. 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the keyword is detected by the collaboration server and wherein determining that a first trigger in the second collaboration session occurred comprises receiving a message from the collaboration server. 
     
     
       18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of  claim 16 , wherein the keyword is detected by the machine, wherein the second item of non-blocking media comprises a transcript of audio corresponding to the second collaboration session, and wherein determining that a first trigger in the second collaboration session occurred comprises finding the keyword in the transcript of audio. 
     
     
       19. A device comprising:
 at least one processor communicatively coupled to memory; 
 a network interface controller coupled to the at least one processor to enable connection over a network to a plurality of collaboration devices; 
 a collaboration module operable by the processor to provide a first collaboration session to a first set of the plurality of collaboration devices and to provide a second collaboration session to a second set of the plurality of collaboration devices; and 
 a simultaneous collaboration module operable by the processor and responsive to the collaboration component determining that the first collaboration session is a background session for a first device, and in response convert blocking media in the first session to non-blocking media and send the non-blocking media to the first device. 
 
     
     
       20. The device of  claim 19 , wherein the blocking media is audio and the simultaneous collaboration module is to convert the audio into a text transcript. 
     
     
       21. The device of  claim 19 , wherein the blocking media is video, and the simultaneous collaboration module is to convert the video into a sequence of still frames. 
     
     
       22. The device of  claim 19 , wherein the simultaneous collaboration module is to store blocking media for the first session into a storage device. 
     
     
       23. The device of  claim 22 , wherein the collaboration module determines that a user of the first device has switched the first collaboration session to an active session, and in response, the simultaneous collaboration module is to provide the saved blocking media to the first device. 
     
     
       24. The device of  claim 23 , wherein the saved blocking media is a predetermined amount of the saved blocking media.